The musings of a rapidly aging fibre addict who must work to support her habit!

Friday, February 04, 2011

Recovering

I postponed, put off, procrastinated & generally avoided doing something about a little problem I had with a spongey gum which my Periodontist wanted to fix. I had the same type of little spot (it wasn't so little but easy to fix) near a lower eye-tooth years ago - a popcorn hull had lodged in both places & been overlooked by all my Dentists till I got a new one who promptly sent me to the Gum Guy. The Gum Guy finds all kinds of things stuck under gums - popcorn hulls are common by the way, so are toothpick pieces! My Gum Guy made me promise never to eat popcorn again! Years ago he talked me into having ALL my lower gums trimmed so he could hide the big hole he was carving where the popcorn hull did the damage. I was so sick, sore & mad that I wanted to tear him limb from limb the second day after . . . I swore he was never, ever doing that to me again. So, fast forward 15 years, having tried everything from Witchcraft to Begging, I'm having another surgical intervention. I allowed him to have TWO TEETH on either side of the problem. I don't give a damn if I have a big hole!! Turns out I had a big abscess in my jaw instead & from the way he was digging, scraping & sanding - it was a bit of an emergency. I heard the Assistant murmur BONE GRAFT??!! Gasp! but he said we didn't need one! phew! To make this long story shorter - he packed it with some sort of antibiotic foam, stitched what he could & plastered the whole area with a Silly Putty-like goop that seals & covers the whole thing with just my tooth bottoms sticking out! Nice. Feels weird but it makes a great dressing! I did as I was told for a change, went home, took Advil & went to bed with a cold gel pack on my face. No food for 24 hours unless I could suck it through a straw. Drank lots, took C, B & zinc. I had some soft mac & cheese late last night - yummy!! And oatmeal today. The Silly Putty bandage is still in place & I have no pain - well, when the Advil's wearing off I feel throbbing but no nasty pain at all. I think the Silly Putty has magic in it!!! What a change from last time!! Dentistry sure has come a long way - even gum trimming!!! I plan on doing all the right things so that this heals well & quickly. And this is why I haven't been knitting much this week.

But - I have been experimenting with my first pair of gloves. I've treated them like a Frankensock - a little bit of this & a little of that & found that Gloves are easier to knit than socks!! The only problem I've had is trying NOT to get a hole in the first cast-on when I separate the stitches for the fingers. That one's tough & I may have to adjust everything after the fingers are actually knit. Gloves are fun. I've always thought they were complicated & hard to knit so I never bothered with them - I've only knit mittens once or twice!! But Gloves are fun to knit! And now that I know that, well, there's all those patterns to try!

1 comment:

Hope your mouth is feeling better now, hon'! I also love to knit gloves, particularly because the regular ladies size won't fit me. They only take about half the yarn that socks do. And they're more grownup to wear than mittens.

Ravellenics 2012

About Me

Rapidly aging woman with too many books, too much fibre & not enough time to take on all the great projects. I'm creaking like an old sailing ship on the Wet Coast these days but have too much junk to pack up & move.